Duplicate health insurance: health fund supplementary plans vs private policies

Many families in Israel pay for more than one layer of health cover on top of the national health basket: the supplementary plan of their health fund (kupat holim), and one or more private health insurance policies. Some of the services can overlap, so you may pay twice for a similar cover.

The layers

• The national health basket: the services every health fund must give its members, supervised by the Ministry of Health.
• Health fund supplementary plans (Shaban): extra services sold by your health fund to its members, also supervised by the Ministry of Health.
• Private health insurance: policies from insurance companies, supervised by the Capital Market, Insurance and Savings Authority. Some are personal, some come through an employer.

The State Comptroller's report on health insurance looked at private health insurance and its overlap with the health funds' supplementary plans.

Where overlap can happen

Overlap is possible when a private policy and a supplementary plan both cover a similar service, for example certain surgeries, consultations or treatments abroad. Whether you really have a duplicate depends on the exact terms of each plan: what is covered, the limits, the deductible and the exclusions.

How to check your own cover

1. List your private policies in Har HaBituach. It shows the policies held in your name with insurance companies.
2. Ask your health fund which supplementary plan each family member has.
3. Get the full terms of each policy, not only the summary.
4. Put the main services side by side: what each plan covers, and at what cost to you.

Before you cancel anything

Cancelling cover can leave a gap, and joining again later may come with new conditions, for example because of a medical condition that started in between. Check what you would lose first. Personal insurance advice comes only from a licensed insurance agent or adviser.

How Woofi fits in

Woofi reads the policies you upload and can point out cover that may overlap, with the policy lines it is based on. It does not tell you what to cancel, and nothing is cancelled or changed without your explicit approval.